Heartland Film Festival: ‘When Jeff Tried to Save the World’ is a high score for indie filmmaking

Jeff, much like the games he enjoys playing, lives in a loop. As manager of Winky’s World (a combination bowling alley-arcade), he wakes up at the crack of dawn every morning, and goes to work. He beats his high score on Whizzing Winky (an arcade cabinet he built himself) for the upteenth time, turns the lights on, sprays the shoes, opens the cash register, and pours a cup of coffee for his boss. His coworkers come in, the day goes on, and he stays after everyone has left to close the place down. He goes home, takes his medicine, and goes to sleep. Jeff has been doing this for so long that he has seemingly become a master of the little world that exists inside of Winky’s faded neon signage and hardwood interior. Before he knows it, Jeff’s world is about to come crashing down on him.

Expanded from a short film of the same name, When Jeff Tried to Save the World follows Jeff (Jon Heder, of Napoleon Dynamite fame), the manager of a retro bowling alley, who’s forced to fight for his status quo when the alley’s owner decides to sell it off. While having to deal with the problems and personalities of his coworkers in the process, Jeff is ultimately forced to confront his personal demons and anxiety in order to stand up for Winky’s. That said, saving the lanes is a lot easier said than done.

To put it bluntly, I genuinely enjoyed this film. From the first few minutes of the film, we are immediately immersed in the semi-titular “world” that Jeff lives in, and despite the somewhat decrepit state of Winky’s World, the set design gives scenes that take place here a boxed-in, yet comforting feeling. The cinematography of the film is also extremely well done, using a blend of traditional techniques and the occasional use of shaky-cam where necessary and having it all feel natural. My favorite element in the overall scheme of the film happens to be the extensive (and often symbolic) use of neon, fluorescent, and natural lighting, depending on the scene. At times, the film often has its’ characters bathed in one of the three, and it almost acts as a sense of mood lighting that genuinely enhance the performances on display.

In a sense, Jon Heder was born for this role. Obviously, he’s no stranger to material similar to the work he does in Jeff, but his performance here feels like the natural dramatic evolution of that kind of perpetual underdog/outcast role that most audience members have come to know him by. As the titular character, Jon mainly keeps to himself and focuses more on physical acting early on in the film, yet as the story unfolds, he makes some fairly interesting choices regarding his performance that make it stand out. That’s not to devalue the rest of the ensemble, with highlights coming from Candi Milo’s Sheila (Jeff’s boss) and Richard Esteras in a bit part that pays off near the end of the film.

What left is there to say? The score is fantastic, the effects are excellently done, and the whole package has a sense of cohesiveness that leaves any unanswered questions in the end with a sense that things’ll work out. When Jeff Tried to Save the World is an unabashed coming of age story (for those who have seemingly already done so) that comments on and uses the very concept of nostalgia in order to weave a tale that embraces the uncertainty of what is to come and how that unpredictability can help us grow as people. At the end of the day, this movie isn’t playing with the bumpers up, and the emotional strikes it hits are all the sweeter for it.

When Jeff Tried to Save the World

9.0Amazing

‘When Jeff Tried to Save the World’ is a fascinating character study set against a backdrop of faded neon and gutter-balls. The cinematography and set design is humble, yet charming, and the ensemble cast absolutely knocks it out of the park. Despite being rooted heavily in a nostalgia (of sorts) for the bowling alley of yesteryear, this film couldn’t be more relevant for our generation and the one before it. No matter how many quarters this one eats, Jeff is worth the price to play.

Trevor is a Telecommunications major who enjoys long walks on the beach, music from at least thirty years ago, and subjecting himself to critically panned media for kicks. He has been reviewing film since his sophomore year of high school, and intends to enter the industry after college.